“On National Girls Child Day, I want to tell all the girls out there that they should not suffer in silence. They should be made aware about their rights and should know that there are people who will help them,” says Vineetha Arumugan, who was rescued by National Child Labour Project (NCLP) officials in 2006 along with her sister from a brick kiln.

Vineetha (19) is now a confident young woman studying second year BBA in a Pollachi college. She recalls the atrocity, “It was very difficult to work in the brick kiln – the dust, the weight of bricks and the heat all that was having a bad effect on us, but our mother made us work to get more money even though she did it unwillingly.”

She adds, “It was god’s grace that one of the village school teachers got to know our situation and asked NCLP personnel to help us. If not for NCLP we might have spent our childhood working in the brick kiln and got exploited.”

Talking about the future, Vineetha says, “My sister is already working in a telecom company and I am very confident about my future.”

Vineetha was not the only one rescued, but still there are girls who are suffering.

Latha Sundaram, Managing Trustee, Aram Foundation, said, “A girl child is vulnerable in all ages. There are still many younger girls working as labourers and exploited in different ways. This needs to be stopped and can only be done by making parents and children aware.”

D.V. Vijayakumar, Project Director, NCLP, said, “These days children need to be made aware about good touch and bad touch, specially teen girls who get attracted to people who don’t have good intentions and which could lead to big problems.”

He added, “As we celebrate National Girl Child Day today, I want to tell parents not to restrict their girls within four walls; make them confident by sending them to school, by teaching them self-defence and making them aware of their rights. Parents should be like friends to their children so that their children can share all thoughts and happenings in their life without fear.”